Just one Night
by V-San
Summary: Postgame - Chie learns that there are some things that a Prince can't protect her Princess from. ChiexYukiko. Now with epilogue.
1. Chapter 1

_Just one night_

Not for the first time since she had been sat in the hospital waiting room, Chie cursed her inability to protect those closest to her. Not even that, she had failed to protect the one person who mattered the _most._

Wearily lifting her head up, she looked down the hallway to where a dull red light above a door was the only signal to the outside world that Yukiko Amagi's life hung in the balance.

Yosuke had told her that it wasn't her fault, that she had no way of knowing that as she and Yukiko walked through the shopping district, quietly chatting with each other, a car would suddenly swerve from around a corner, mount the pavement and plough straight into her girlfriend.

Hours later, she could still hear in her mind, the audible snaps that Yukiko's ribcage had made as she was hit from the side by the car. The sickening crunch as her arm had hit the pavement, the large tire of the car soon grinding that very same arm further into the road, and the accompanying spray of blood that was coughed up seconds later from what could only be heavy internal bleeding.

The hit must have only taken a few seconds; the car had indeed come to a stop soon after, but those moments seemed framed in an eternity.

As Yukiko had fallen, her body making an oddly graceful arc before it crashed down, Chie had seen her face, frozen in pale shock, the last ebbs of laughter fading from her expression. Their eyes had met for an instant, volumes of pain, both physical and emotional washed between them.

Even now, thinking about it, Chie could feel her iron defences-ones that she had slammed into place once she had seen the battered body of her girlfriend being loaded into an ambulance-start to slip.

Tears were beginning to form again for the newest time in who knew how long, but she forced them down once more, refusing to admit that she was worried, not allowing herself to think even for a moment that _Yukiko might not make it._

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Chie spared a glance at the clock hung on the opposite wall, it read 02:17. It was a surreal feeling, knowing that the accident had only taken place a few hours earlier. The exhaustion laced with worry and grief made the event itself seem weeks away, as if it had happened long ago, and was only now catching up with her.

The others were here too, dotted about the waiting room, each looking as exhausted as Chie felt. Kanji was sat a few chairs down, head in his hands. She almost could have believed he had dozed off if not for the persistent tapping of his foot.

Rise and Teddie were perched on the edge of a table. Rise had her head buried in Teddie's shoulder. Her own were visibly shaking and there were audible, gasping sobs breaking forth at even intervals. Teddie's own cheeks were also damp with tears as he held his teammate.

Naoto was choosing to pace back and forth across the room, occasionally throwing herself into a chair with a huff, before rising moments later to resume her frantic walk. Distantly, Chie recalled Naoto telling her that she had investigated the driver of the vehicle and found him to be drunk. She knew that a mixture of Yukiko's condition and the state of the driver was affecting her mood and causing the agitation.

Out of all of them, Yosuke looked the most alert, though it wasn't worth much. He had taken on the duty of telling Souji about the accident, and had to keep stepping out every hour or so to text his friend with any news.

As it was, he seemed to have finished his latest message, and was ambling back into the room, a can of juice in his hand. Walking over, he handed the can to her, smiling mirthlessly.

"You look like you need this most." he said, sitting himself down next to her. "Have you gotten any sleep?"

Placing the can on the arm of the chair, Chie once again glanced over at the red light at the end of the corridor, before turning back to Yosuke.

"I don't think I can. I keep thinking something might happen while I do, that Yukiko might need me…"

"She's got the doctors for anything she might need Chie, there's not much you can do for her right now."

If it was intended to help, Yosuke's comment had the opposite effect as Chie moved her head to look at him, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You really think you need to tell me how much I can't do for her right now?" She spat, "I watched her get hit by that car and I couldn't do anything but stare as I saw her bones break and her body hit the floor. Trust me, watching that happen and not being able to do a damn thing lets me know _exactly_ how good I am at protecting her."

As if Yosuke expected her to say something like this, he sighed and continued.

"And how exactly were you supposed to protect her from that? Unless you've got some sort of future sight that none of us know about, there was no way you could have seen that car coming and you know it."

"Then I could have stopped it from hitting her." Replied Chie, fatigued stubbornness now edging its way into her tone. "I could have pushed her out of the way or something, made it hit me instead."

"That's not funny."

Both looked up as Kanji's voice rang loud and clear from across to them, his head was up and inclined towards them, eyes blazing and his mouth set in a scowl as he looked Chie in the eye.

"That's not funny at all. You think we wanted you to get hit by that thing any more than her?!"

Again, Chie felt her eyes mist over as tears pricked at the edge of her vision. Withdrawing in on herself, she crossed her arms over her chest and forced the tears back again.

"I didn't mean that…" She said, her voice subdued once more. "I just…god, I just feel so useless. Like right now, she could be dying and I know there's nothing I can do but wait around here like some kind of idiot."

Faintly, Chie felt Kanji thud into the chair on the other side of her and pull one of his arms around her shoulders in a half-hearted attempt at a hug.

"She's always been able to rely on me for these things." she continued "That's why she calls me her Prince, because the Prince protects the Princess. I tried so hard to protect her from the Shadows, and now…"

"Shadows are one thing." Rumbled Kanji from beside her. "This's different Sempai."

Any chance for further discussion was cut off as the light from the hall went off suddenly and the door was opened.

A man in a white medical coat walked towards the group, who had each stopped and turned their attention towards his approach. Recognizing him as Yukiko's doctor, Chie bolted up from where she was sat and moved to intercept him, Kanji and Yosuke seconds behind her.

Even before she stopped, Chie's blood ran cold as she recognized the look on the face of the man she was running to meet. It was the face of someone who had to deliver bad news.

"How is she?" Kanji called from behind her as they came to a stop.

Whatever it was that the doctor actually said hardly registered. She caught a few words; 'punctured lung', 'fractured spine', "pulmonary artery', but she knew that what he was saying was simple.

She wasn't going to live.

Chie moved for the door even before the doctor finished, flinging it open and catching sight of a group of nurses heading out of a patient room. She ran desperately towards where she knew Yukiko was waiting.

Even after seeing people in hospital beds before, hooked up to various machines, Chie was still unprepared for the sight of Yukiko lying in one of those beds, dwarfed by wires and mechanisms. Several tubes ran into a mask covering her face, mostly obscuring Chie's view of her. Another machine seemed to be keeping her breathing.

As she saw it, Chie knew it was temporary, there was no way for the machines to keep Yukiko alive for very much longer.

Kneeling next to the bed, she grabbed one of Yukiko's much too cold hands in her own. The feeling of limp fingers and a fluttering pulse was almost enough to send Chie over the edge of despair.

"Yukiko I…"

It was too much. There weren't words left anymore. Finally the gates burst and Chie felt her resolve break as tears streamed unbidden down her cheeks.

The rest of the team found her, minutes later, her hand grasping that of her girlfriend's, whose face was pale as death. Chie's own face buried in the bed sheets as she cried Yukiko's name over and over into the night.

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_AN. This is really something of a practice for me, since I mostly do comedy, I don't know how good or bad I am at writing anything angsty. It's something I'm still getting into the swing of (hence, why this story is pretty fail-tastic).  
Plus, I really didn't know whether I wanted to keep Yukiko alive or not, so the story kept shifting around in the middle. I think that's why I chose a car accident rather than a Shadow attack, it added that uncertainty to the plot as a whole. Sorry Yukiko, you've been sacrificed in the name of the plot.  
Reviews and constructive criticism is much appreciated, since I'd really like to know where I fall short and do well in the angst genre._

_Hope you liked it~_


	2. Epilogue

_-Epilogue-_

About a week after that night, Chie found herself home alone once again. Her parents both worked on Sundays and the dog was currently lounging upstairs, no doubt making a mess of her bed.

Nowadays though, Chie never really felt anything but lonely. Her thoughts haunted her constantly, day and night. When she was at school, or if other people were around she could ignore her thoughts for a little while, but they still nagged at her.

She kept picturing those few moments in the hospital; Yukiko's cold hand in hers, the dull pulse that faded even as Chie grasped her fingers tightly and begged her to stay.

Even now she could feel herself getting lost in the numbness of her memories. It almost felt as though she lived more in recollections than she did in reality.

She remembered how Souji had once told her that everyone dealt with the grief of losing someone in their own way, was this hers? Would she simply cease to live in the real world and retreat to the comfort of her own mind?

'_It'd probably be better that way,' _she reflected. _'It's the only place I'm gonna see her again.'_

A tapping sound brought her out of her thoughts; someone seemed to be knocking on the front door. Pulling herself up with a sigh, Chie shuffled into the hall and made for the door.

Whatever she was expecting, it certainly wasn't for her to pull open the front door to reveal the tired face of Fuyumi Amagi.; Yukiko's mother.

"A-Amagi-San," Chie stammered, caught off guard. "Uh, is there something I can help you with?"

Fuyumi looked as though she had just stepped out of the inn. She was dressed in a pale blue kimono with a butterfly design, and her sleek hair was twisted up into a simple ponytail at one side. Her face, though dabbed in makeup, still showed fresh signs of grief. She offered a sad smile to Chie as she reached up and pulled out a folded envelope from the sleeve of her kimono. For a moment, Chie was struck upon seeing the movement, so similar was it to the way Yukiko used to pull her fan from her sleeve.

"Tadaaki found this while sorting through some of Yukiko's things. It's addressed to you."

Chie remembered Tadaaki Amagi from the few times she had met the man herself. Unlike how his wife and daughter seemed to be cast from porcelain, like living china dolls, Tadaaki had always seemed rough and rugged around the edges, an unpolished diamond.

Tall and burly with messy hair and deep piercing eyes, he was intimidating to anyone who knew of him and yet even kinder and gentler to anyone who knew him well.

All she could clearly recall at the moment was the way he had broken down in tears at his only daughter's funeral.

Taking the envelope from Fuyumi's outstretched hand; Chie ripped the top open and pulled out the letter inside with shaking fingers. Gulping audibly, she flipped it open and began to read;

_Chie,_

_There's a big part of me that doesn't want to write this letter. Mostly because writing it means that I accept the fact that I could die and leave you. Also because I know that reading this can't be easy for you. I hate the thought that I'm causing you to dwell on what might have happened._

_I wrote this not too long after what happened inside the TV. Seeing people get killed, fighting the Shadows, watching as others got hurt; it really brought it home to me how dangerous those few months were. One of us could have easily died in there and it would have been so sudden. I wanted to write this as a 'just in case'. Even without the Shadows, I don't want to leave you without saying goodbye one last time._

_I also don't want to leave without telling you that whatever happened, however I died, you need to stop beating yourself up over it. I'm sure that the others have said something like this to you already. I'm equally sure that it hasn't made too much of a difference. So I'm telling you now Chie, keep me in your heart but move on with your life. I don't want the memory of me to drive you down; I'd rather that you lived your life the way you always have, the way I remember._

_Yours always, Yukiko._

Chie hadn't realized she was crying until Fuyumi silently handed her a handkerchief. The two were quiet for a few moments; Fuyumi waited while Chie re-read over the letter and wiped her eyes with the handkerchief.

Eventually, as Chie folded the letter over again and placed it in her pocket, Fuyumi spoke softly.

"She always spoke of you when she was at home. Even before you were together, she always thought of you and worried after you. I believe that letter was her way of making sure you were alright."

That said, she offered one last tired smile to Chie before she turned and made her way back down the driveway of the house.

Aware once again by how similar her movements were to those of her daughter's, Chie spared one more glance for Fuyumi Amagi, framed in the rising sun of Inaba.

"Thank you."

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_AN. I hadn't actually planned on an epilogue to this (who am I kidding, I don't plan anything anymore), but a review I recieved today brought up the idea of Yukiko's last words to Chie, and here's the result.  
So _digifreaks_, this chapter is especially for you (no BROSUKE this time though, sorry)._

_  
Yukiko's parents also make something of an appearance (after a complete absence from the other chapter). I'm also aware of how completely uninspired thier names are. I doubt this is the last I'll write of them though, they may pop up in something else, who knows? _

_Anyway, hope you liked it~_


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